Live it and then get back to me. The cost of living depends entirely on your career choice. We have a much larger home budget (even buying at 1/10th the value) than a lot of people. We also have to eat out often as we're working 12-14 hours a day. Most people will say "JUST STAY UP AN EXTRA HOUR AND COOK FOR THE WEEK", however, they'd just end up sounding like boomers saying "if you spent less time on your iPhone and more time at work, you could buy whatever you want and live wherever you want to live!".
BTW - we're not even bad at all. Google has employees making 250-300k + stocks + benefits living in RV homes on their property.
What I was really trying to say was, even at 100-150k, 20 years ago you were a king. In today's age? You live a comfortable life.
I wasn't complaining about my funds or mismanagement of them. I sold a few companies to an investment group 5 years ago, so we're very healthy in regards to savings. I'm just saying that the cost of living has gone up substantially than that of even 10 years ago.
I should clarify that, we used to be able to put 10k a month easy into savings 10+ years ago. That being said, throwing a thousand or so into my savings does not feel like a victory to me. Thus, I will continue to complain about it.
also, I found success at a young age. I'm only 32 now. When I'm on here complaining about the cost of living, I'm not doing so "trying to relate" - it's reality. The cost of living has gone up. I went from being able to buy anything I wanted to, whenever, to having to consider what I buy now.